About me

John Koay is best known for hot fiery explosions made from hot & spicy chicken, popping up on our competitor's doorsteps with a pizza store, edible nail polishes that tasted like fried chicken, making a digital BFF that helped you train for a marathon, designing a series of exclusive trading cards that got sneaker fans literally fighting for them...

With over 20 years of experience that started from New Zealand, Australia and now Hong Kong, he has worked at some of the world's most awarded and effective agencies across the region.
He has transformed brands with creative impact and business growth such as KFC, Pizza Hut, Nike, Toyota, Panasonic, Telecom New Zealand, Air New Zealand, Qantas, Westpac Bank, Nestle brands, Kelloggs brands, New South Wales Government, Johnson & Johnson and Heineken and more. He also builds bespoke teams for clients, bringing integration across the different agency offerings.
His work has been awarded at every global, regional and local shows with multiple golds including Cannes Lions, D&AD, The One Show, Clio Awards, ADC, Asia Spikes, Adfest, AWARD, Effies, New York Festivals, London International Awards, Axis Awards, The Webby Awards, Kam Fan and AMES. He has also been invited to judge at several award shows, most recently at Cannes Lions, One Show Asia, New York Festivals, AWARD.

In 2021 he was named The One Show's 2nd most awarded Executive Creative Director across APAC and placed Ogilvy Hong Kong at number 1 position in China. In 2018 he was ranked 4th most awarded Creative Director in the world and also propelled Ogilvy Hong Kong to 8th most globally awarded agency in The Big Won rankings '18. His KFC Hot & Spicy campaign won the most gold Cannes Lions in history in Hong Kong and it was also the 3rd most globally awarded campaign in the world that year.

In his personal life he enjoys travelling, eating more than he should, and is ranked at the bottom when it comes to cooking, remembering passwords and finding his keys.

John's achievements

Site Achievements

+3 10 Featured

Creativepool Annual

Listing of award wins in Creativepool's awards

Annual 2017

Top 100 Creative Leaders

Featured work

Work picked by the Creativepool editors for the homepage.

KFC Brainwave Bucket

30 September 2023

Pizza Hut x IKEA SÄVA

29 October 2021

KFC Hot & Spicy Season 2

6 October 2020

KFC Hot & Spicy

3 April 2018

Print - Seat belts keep people together

27 February 2018

Nike Air Max "Step back in time"

23 February 2018

Outdoor: Flash Before Your Eyes billboards

21 February 2018

Nike Air Max 95 Collectables

19 February 2018

200% Edible Wrapper. KFC Double Down wrapper you can eat.

9 February 2018

KFC Finger Lickin' Good Edible Nail Polish

2 February 2017

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